PEA FAMILY . 323 



18. L. humistratus Greene. Colchita. Stems few or several from the base, 

 prostrate to ascending, diffusely branched, forming mats 3 to 14 inches wide; herb- 

 age densely villous or sometimes only slightly so; leaves 3% to 8% lines long, with 



2 leaflets terminal and 2 on one side of the flattened rachis and none on the other; 

 leaflets oblanceolate to obovate, II/2 to 5 lines long; flowers 3 to 4 lines long, solitary 

 in the axils, on pedicels I/2 line long or less or sessile; calyx-teeth linear-acuminate, 

 1^ to 2 times as long as the tube; corolla yellow; pods oblong, commonly straw- 

 color, 3I/2 to 5 lines long; seeds 2 to 5, mostly 3. 



Dry clay or rocky hillsides, 100 to 2800 (or 6500) feet: Coast Ranges from 

 Humboldt and Trinity Cos. to San Luis Obispo Co.; Great Valley; Sierra Nevada 

 foothills from Siskiyou Co. to Tulare Co.; Mohave Desert and desert slopes of 

 mountains on its west borders; Colorado Desert; Inyo Co. North to southern Ore- 

 gon, east to New Mexico. Apr.-May. 



Field note, — Next to Lotus subpinnatus, L. humistratus is the most frequent spring-time 

 annual of this genus everywhere in the Coast Eange hills. Sometimes it is found on gravel or 

 sand bars in the flood beds of streams or in canon bottoms, and favors especially broken ground, 

 such as landslips, in the hills. It is on the whole infrequent on the plain of the Great Valley, or 

 at least rarely collected, and appears infrequent, too, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, though here 

 the records are scanty. It is, however, abundant in the low foothills of Fresno Co. In that 

 region we were told in 1929 by cattle men that this plant had become abundant during the previ- 

 ous four years. Stock do not eat it when other forage is available. In parts of the great expanse 

 of the Mohave Desert it is often widespread and abundant. Apparently it is wholly absent from 

 cismontane Southern California south of the San Gabriel Mts. and west of the San Jacinto Mts. 



Its range, as to area of abundance, is ecologically very remarkable, since it extends from 

 New Mexico westward to the Mohave Desert, regions of great aridity, to Mt. Pinos, thence north- 

 ward through the South Coast Eanges into the North Coast Eanges, forming in the latter region 

 a broad band inside the Kedwood belt, a relatively humid region. Notwithstanding this wide 

 distribution, Lotus humistratus is subject to an extremely slight range of variation. 



Locs. — Coast Eanges: Weaverville (n. of), H. S. Yates 302; Hupa, Chandler 1308; Mail 

 Eidge, Humboldt Co., Jepson 1897; Alder Sprs. grade, w. Glenn Co., Heller 11,465; South Mill 

 Creek, Ukiah, Jepson 9231; Stanton (mts. e. of), ne. Lake Co., Jepson 8981; Jerusalem Valley, s. 

 Lake Co., Jepson 9035; Mt. St. Helena, C. F. Baker 2605; Dutton Caiion, Vaca Mts., Jepson 

 13,812; Hood's Peak, Sonoma Co., Michener Sr Bioletti; Eoss Valley, Marin Co., Jepson 13,810; 

 Lake Temescal, Oakland Hills, Jepson 13,815; Mt. Diablo, Brewer 1073; Wrights sta., Santa 

 Cruz Mts., Jepson 13,813; Paso Eobles, Barier; San Carpoforo, San Luis Obispo Co., Gondii; 

 Estrella, San Luis Obispo Co., Jared. Northern Sacramento Valley: Bedding, BlanJcinship; 

 Crane Creek, w. Tehama Co., Jepson 13,814 ; Chico, B. M. Austin. Sierra Nevada : Goosenest foot- 

 hills, e. Siskiyou Co., Butler 911; betw. Clear Creek and Paradise. Butte Co., Heller 11,377; 

 Auburn, ShocTcley ; Copperopolis, Calaveras Co., Bavy 1339; Columbia, Tuolumne Co., A. L. 

 Grant 682; Eattlesnake Gulch, e. of Friant, Fresno Co., Jepson 15,133; Kaweah, Hopping 279. 

 Mt. Pinos, n. Ventura Co., Hall 6532. Colorado Desert: Sentenac Canon, e. San Diego Co., Jep- 

 son 12,460. Mohave Desert: Arrastre Canon, n. side San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 406; Hesperia, 

 Jepson 6141 ; Stoddard WeU, Jepson 5914 ; Piute Creek, e. Mohave Desert, N. C. Wilson. Inyo 

 Co. : Independence, Hall 4" Chandler 7299 ; Argus Mts., Purpus 5420. 



Eefs.— Lotus humistratus Greene, Pitt. 2:139 (1890); Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 303 

 (1901), ed. 2, 231 (1911), Man. 552 (1925). HosacTcia Irachycarpa Benth. PL Hartw. 306 

 (1848), type (Hartweg 391) collected "in the Sacramento mountains", that is, in the Yuba 

 Eiver region (Erythea 5 :55) ; not Lotus brachycarpus Hochstetter & Steudel (1841). Anisolotus 

 brachycarpus Eydb. Bull. Torr. Club 33:144 (1906). i. trispermus Greene, Erythea 1:258 (1893), 

 type loc. Lancaster, Los Angeles Co., Davidson (calyx-lobes subulate, seeds quadrangular). Aniso- 

 lotus trispermus Woot. & Sta. Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 16:135 (1913). 



19. L. subpinnatus Lag. Calf Lotus. Stem diffusely branched, 4 to 9 inches 

 high; herbage pubescent (or the young parts whitish-hairy) to subglabrous; leaves 



3 to 8 lines long, with 2 or 3 leaflets terminal, 2 on one side of the flattened rachis, 

 none on the other; leaflets elliptic, 2 to 5 lines long; flowers 3 to 41/^ lines long, soli- 

 tary in the axils on pedicels i/4 to % line long; calyx-teeth broadly subulate, as long 

 as the tube; corolla bright yellow; pods oblong to linear, puberulent, 5 to 10 lines 

 long, 3 to 7-seeded. 



Clay or sandy hillsides and plains, 20 to 2500 feet: throughout cismontane 

 California, often growing with L. humistratus. Mar.-Oct. 



